Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to surgical devices and, more particularly, to surgical stapling devices that can function to grasp and manipulate tissue having varying thicknesses.
Description of Related Art
Surgical staplers are commonly employed by surgeons on tissue of varying thickness including thick tissue and thin tissue. Known surgical staplers typically include a pair of jaws supporting a staple cartridge and an anvil member. The jaws are movable between an open position in which the distal end of the jaws are spaced from each other and a clamped position in which the jaws are in juxtaposed alignment with each other. In the clamped position, the jaws are spaced from each other to define a tissue gap that is dimensioned to receive the tissue to be sutured.
Known surgical staplers include open surgical staplers and endoscopic surgical staplers. Endoscopic surgical staplers are inserted through small incisions or cannulas extending through small incisions in the skin of a patient or subject to a position adjacent a surgical site. Because of the limited ability of a surgeon to access the surgical site, endoscopic surgical staplers are typically used to grasp and manipulate tissue prior to be actuated to suture tissue.
The ability to grasp and manipulate tissue using an endoscopic stapler is directly controlled by the size of the tissue gap and the thickness of the tissue being manipulated. More specifically, if the thickness of the tissue is less than the height of the tissue gap, the jaws of the endoscopic stapler will be less capable of grasping and manipulating the tissue. When surgeons are working with thin tissue, e.g., thoracic tissue, the ability to grasp and manipulate tissue with an endoscopic surgical stapler may be hindered. This may make it more difficult for a clinician to manipulate tissue at the surgical site during an endoscopic procedure, thus lengthening the surgical procedure and increasing trauma to the patient or subject.